All posts by Phil

Fiction

The Breaking by Loren Eaton

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Our friend Loren Eaton has a short story in the latest issue of Port Iris.

In “The Breaking,” a cripple named Moses struggles to beat back ever-encroaching growths named krim as they slowly advance upon his rag-tag village. For help with the work he has only an orphan, a ditchdigger’s son and the indolent child of a wealthy trader. Blasted and apparently barren, the krim look like dead, weather-beaten bushes. Yet they continue to spread, inexorable and merciless, and no one in the village heeds Moses’ warning of a flame that will soon sweep through them, devouring as it goes. …

Uncategorized

Left Turn and Stomp On the Gas

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“The liberal bias of the mainstream media tilts so far left that any outlets not in that political lane, like the Drudge Report and Fox News Channel, look far more conservative than they really are, according to a UCLA professor’s new book out next month.” writes Paul Bedard in a review of Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind

Fiction, Publishing

Do They Have Crime in Ireland?

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John Connolly talks about Irish readers’ lack of interest in crime novels. He says the Irish naturally clash with systemic qualities of crime fiction, such as urban life and respect for police. An Irish inferiority complex may come into play too.

After all, crime fiction is less about the world as it is than the world as it should be. As William Gaddis wrote in his novel JR (1976): “Justice? – you get justice in the next world, in this world, you have the law.”

Crime fiction refuses to accept that this should be the case, and in doing so it reflects the desire of its readers for a more just society. Even at its darkest it is, essentially, hopeful by nature.

Perhaps, for the Irish, that hope is yet to come. (via Books, Inc.)

Reading

Self-prescribed Tunnel Vision

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Goggle Make-up TestIf we continue to watch only the titillating shows and avoid the thoughtful ones, if we get out of the house only for novelty, then eventually all of entertainment will be sequels, writes A.G. Harmon in Image Journal. “If to exercise the body we must accept discomfort, pushing beyond pain,” he states, “to exercise the mind requires a related effort, an involvement that rejects the passive, formaldehyde bath of strobing visuals. A human is more than his eyes—certainly more than his ocular reflexes—and to be human means breaking free of this dangerous trap.”

We could easily dismiss this if Harmon was referring only to popular entertainment, meaning that which is nationally distributed in some way. But I’m sure he is urging us to embrace our local culture by attending concerts, plays, art shows, story-tellings, jamborees and town hall meetings (touching on the civic side of public involvement). By seeking only the exciting or shocking stuff, we risk narrowing our vision, withdrawing into our inner space, and closing off most of the world. Harmon warns us against an obsession with personal comfort.

Non-fiction

Ulysses Among the Dead

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Since this is Bloomsday for some, let me direct your attention to an old post on Scott Huler’s book, No-Man’s Lands: One Man’s Odyssey Through The Odyssey. This is Huler’s memoir/travelogue on his adventure following the path of Odysseus in Homer’s epic. At one point, the hero reports, “I had no choice but to come down to Hades and consult the soul of Theban Teiresias.” Huler didn’t want to attempt a trip to the underworld, so he opted for the Capuchin cemetery within the Church of the Immaculate Conception (Chiesa di Santa Maria della Concezione). Read his description here.

Fiction

Today Is–Do You Care?

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June 16 is National Fudge Day in America. While quacks in Dublin are raising pints to each other for Bloomsday, we right-minded, freedom-loving Americans are baking fudge, pouring it on our ice cream, browsing the varieties at specialty shops, and chucking last year’s frost-burned fudge bars at errant congressmen.

But speaking of Bloomsday, Frank Delaney’s podcast actually makes Joyce’s Ulysses sound interesting. Maybe the key to enjoying Ulysses is listening to someone who’s read it talk about it.

Authors, Writing

Literature vs. Trash

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“Literature is the right use of language irrespective of the subject or reason of the utterance. A political speech may be, and sometimes is, literature; a sonnet to the moon may be, and often is, trash. Style is what distinguishes literature from trash,” writes Evelyn Waugh, and he backs it up too. This link is particularly relevant to our blog because I posted a G.M.Hopkins poem to the moon earlier this week.

Authors, Publishing

Friedman: Is the Book Dead? Who Cares!

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Publishing is still innovating, says Jane Friedman, so even if one type of book becomes permanently out of print, other types will live on. Printed books won’t go out of print any time soon, but other types me dominate the future market. Remember the first cell phones? What if today’s Kindles and Nooks looked like that in 10-20 years compared to what they will become?